TN.Frank Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 (edited) For years I've complained about EFI and how I have no control over it like I do an engine with a carburetor. Well, that time is going to come to an end. I just ordered a USB OBD II cable and I need to find some free software that'll let me hack into the cars ECM to adjust things like timing, idle rpms, fuel/air ratios, ect. Does anyone have a good and free program that they use to tweak their cars ECM and if so can you share a link for it. I'm running Kali Linux which is Debian based so I need something that'll work with Debian. Thanks. P.S. I did find Scantool in Synaptic which will let me read and reset codes via OBD II and I've installed it but for the life of me I can't find it in my Applications list. So where in heck was it installed at??? I also installed OpenOBD as a .deb file and installed it but nothing shows up under Applications for it either. So how do I access these OBD II scanners?? P.S.S. Would Scantool run under Arduino??? Edited March 9, 2014 by TN.Frank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THCMinister Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 Try running "locate odb" in the terminal, should locate paths for you to look into. It may just be a command line tool and not create any menu items. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TN.Frank Posted March 9, 2014 Author Share Posted March 9, 2014 Try running "locate odb" in the terminal, should locate paths for you to look into. It may just be a command line tool and not create any menu items. Ok, got all of this when I ran it: /lib/modules/3.12-kali1-686-pae/kernel/drivers/staging/lustre/lustre/obdclass /lib/modules/3.12-kali1-686-pae/kernel/drivers/staging/lustre/lustre/obdecho /lib/modules/3.12-kali1-686-pae/kernel/drivers/staging/lustre/lustre/obdclass/llog_test.ko /lib/modules/3.12-kali1-686-pae/kernel/drivers/staging/lustre/lustre/obdclass/obdclass.ko /lib/modules/3.12-kali1-686-pae/kernel/drivers/staging/lustre/lustre/obdecho/obdecho.ko I kind of wanted a GUI style program where I'd just hook up the USB/OBD II cable and click an icon to launch stuff. Is there any free tools like that in the Repos or somewhere that I could download it or am I stuck with a Terminal command line program? Also what about something to actually hack the ECM and tweak stuff like idle rpms, timing, air/fuel, ect. Anything like that in Open Source? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THCMinister Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 did you try the OpenOBD forums? http://sourceforge.net/p/openobd/discussion/1176183 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TN.Frank Posted March 10, 2014 Author Share Posted March 10, 2014 did you try the OpenOBD forums? http://sourceforge.net/p/openobd/discussion/1176183 Yep, I gave it a look but it didn't look like there was much going on there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TN.Frank Posted March 11, 2014 Author Share Posted March 11, 2014 (edited) I have found this: http://www.obdautodoctor.com/ Which actually installs an icon that you click to open the program. I have the free trial version but when you open it it also asks for Lic and Key info so I guess there's a version that you can buy or maybe you have to buy it after so long when your trial runs out. Either way this is more like I'm looking for where you get an icon in your menu to show you where the program is. Still need to find something to tweak/hack the ECM to reset stuff though. P.S. Also ordered an ELM 327 compliant Bluetooth OBD II adapter just in case the USB OBD II cable that I ordered doesn't work. Better safe then sorry AND it'll be my FIRST Bluetooth device. Edited March 11, 2014 by TN.Frank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TN.Frank Posted March 13, 2014 Author Share Posted March 13, 2014 Still looking for an ECM hacking program that'll run under Debian Linux. Anyone??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sitwon Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 (edited) As I understand it, the OBDII protocol is pretty simple. If you get a simple serial scanner you can poke at it with any terminal emulator attached to the correct serial port. Edited March 13, 2014 by Sitwon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TN.Frank Posted March 13, 2014 Author Share Posted March 13, 2014 As I understand it, the OBDII protocol is pretty simple. If you get a simple serial scanner you can poke at it with any terminal emulator attached to the correct serial port.So if that's the case where are all the Free apps I can download and run under my Kali install, LOL. There are hand held programmers on the market but they cost in the neighborhood of $300+ last time I checked. I'd figure that someone in the Linux community would have come up with an Open Source alternative to that by now since OBD II has been around since 1996 and practically every car on the road has a dang computer in it anymore. OBD Auto Doctor looks like it should be what I was looking for as far as scanning for codes and checking sensor data but I'd really love to hack the ECM to get better performance out of an engine or to fix things like low rpm on an older engine. There has to be something out there somewhere. Even if it was for Windows I could probably still use it under WINE if worse comes to worse. Folks on this site like to Hack, so let's come up with something to Hack the ECM in cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sitwon Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 So if that's the case where are all the Free apps I can download and run under my Kali install, LOL. There are hand held programmers on the market but they cost in the neighborhood of $300+ last time I checked. I'd figure that someone in the Linux community would have come up with an Open Source alternative to that by now since OBD II has been around since 1996 and practically every car on the road has a dang computer in it anymore. OBD Auto Doctor looks like it should be what I was looking for as far as scanning for codes and checking sensor data but I'd really love to hack the ECM to get better performance out of an engine or to fix things like low rpm on an older engine. There has to be something out there somewhere. Even if it was for Windows I could probably still use it under WINE if worse comes to worse. Folks on this site like to Hack, so let's come up with something to Hack the ECM in cars. Well as I said, the protocol is pretty open. Open enough that you can poke at it with already ubiquitous terminal emulators. It takes a little bit of research into what the codes mean, but that's not a huge burden for the average Linux geek. Couple that with the fact that most geeks will only care about doing this once or twice on their own vehicle and it's not hard to see why nobody ever went to the trouble of building out a whole application around it. If you want a fancy graphical interface so you can just click buttons without having to learn or think about what you're doing, write it yourself. Or at least use Google. I found these in one search: http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/openobd/index.php?title=OpenOBD http://www.obdtester.com/pyobd http://freediag.sourceforge.net/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TN.Frank Posted March 13, 2014 Author Share Posted March 13, 2014 (edited) Thanks for the links. I already have a diagnostic programed installed, OBD Auto Doctor. I had really hopped that someone would know of a program to tweak ECM settings that would be Open Source. I've been running Linux for about a year and I can do some stuff in Terminal but I'd not call my self a "Geek" quite yet, still have a lot of stuff to learn so a lot of this stuff would be beyond my abilities at the moment. Edited March 13, 2014 by TN.Frank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TN.Frank Posted March 14, 2014 Author Share Posted March 14, 2014 (edited) Got the USB to OBD II cable today. Won't work with OBD Auto Doctor or Scantool. I figured out how to get Scantool up and running. Go to Terminal, type in "scantool" and hit enter and it'll bring up the GUI for it. I need to remember what the other tool was I installed so I can see if I can get it running and if it'll work with the cable. The cable is KKL VAG-COM for 409.1(whatever all that means) so it may or may not work on a Dodge mini-van. Guess it's going to be a learning process, LOL. P.S. Ok, found the other app I downloaded, it's OpenOBD and you type "openobd" in Terminal to bring up the window. It too is ELM 327 only so I guess I'll have to wait to get the Bluetooth OBD plug in adapter to run any of the programs. Edited March 14, 2014 by TN.Frank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TN.Frank Posted March 16, 2014 Author Share Posted March 16, 2014 Got the Bluetooth OBD II ELM 327 connector today and gave it a test run. It worked with OBD Auto Doctor after I had that program detect it even though my laptop through it's own Bluetooth connections manager wouldn't connect to it, go figure. Free version of OBD Auto Doctor is limited, paid Pro Version would give me a lot more options but I just don't have the $40 bucks right now so I'm going to have to play around with the Free Version for a while. Scantool didn't find the connector, not sure why, I tried a couple different COM ports, guess I'll have to look into it more. Didn't install the software that came with the connector, don't really think I need it since I have the other two and I know one is working. I think this is a pretty decent deal to be able to scan codes and stuff for under $10 bucks. That'll save me a trip to AutoZone to read the codes so in time I'll make that money back in gas saved. Still wish I could find something to actually hack the ECM to reset some things. The idle in gear is a bit low, I'd love to tweak it up a bit but since the computer controls the IAC I'd have to do it via the computer. Oh well, at least one thing has worked out. Guess I'll have to wait on the other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barry99705 Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 If I remember right ODBII is read only. You have to connect to the ecm under the hood to do changes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TN.Frank Posted March 17, 2014 Author Share Posted March 17, 2014 If I remember right ODBII is read only. You have to connect to the ecm under the hood to do changes.Nope, OBD II is both read and write. You can get something like this for almost $400 bucks: http://superchips.com/products/gm-flashpaq-2842-2842/ Plug it into your OBD II port and reprogram your ECM but I'd like to download a program to my laptop that'll let me do it for free via the ELM 327 connector. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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